Melbourne City A-League Women’s Head Coach, Dario Vidosic, says his side is ready for the challenge as they head to Newcastle for the first leg of their Semi Final with the Jets.
It’s been three weeks since City were crowned Premiers in a dramatic final day of the regular season. With the April international window and the first week of finals in between games, it’s been a strong period on the track for Vidosic’s side.
“We’ve trained intensely, they’ve [the team] almost raised the level, our training has been very good,” Vidosic said.
We’ll just try to put in our best performance of the season, that’s what we try to achieve every week, we want to get better and better, with individual development for the girls and as a team.
Finals football
After securing the Club’s third A-League Women’s Premiership, City are determined to secure the double, with full focus switching to finals football and vying for the 2023/24 Championship trophy.
“It’s Finals football now, all those things about Premiers or first place against sixth place all goes out the window,” he said. “It’s two games and sometimes one can be the difference.”
“We know we’ve got a target, whenever Melbourne City come to town, we know how teams perform against us – it’s set up well and we look forward to the challenge. We’re ready for Sunday.”
A fierce battle awaits
City will need to nullify Newcastle attackers, Sarina Bolden and Melina Ayres, as they look to make it three wins from three against the Jets this season.
“We know that they’re dangerous in transition, they have two very good goal scores, very dangerous threats, they’re confident – they won their Elimination Final,” Vidosic said.
“We anticipate a fantastic atmosphere who will push their girls, but we always focus on ourselves, we know their strengths but if we play our football, we give ourselves a great chance to have a good start to this two-legged affair.”
City will take on Newcastle Jets at Maitland Sports Ground on Sunday 21 April at 3:00pm, before returning home for the return leg at AAMI Park on Sunday 28 April, kick-off 1:00pm. Get your tickets to our home leg here.
